THE Philippine National Police (PNP) Police Regional Office 5 (PRO5) was ordered to give special attention to the presence of the CPP-NPA-NDF in the province of Masbate amid the series of attacks against civilians in the past months.
The order was given by PNP Chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar after a barangay captain and his companions survived a recent attack perpetrated by the CPP-NPA-NDF forces in the town of Placer.
The incident happened a few days after the communist rebels killed three street vendors in the town of Palanas .In June also this year, college football player Kieth Absalon and his cousin Nolven died during the ambush perpetrated by the CPP-NPA-NDF in Masbate City.
“It is not enough to just condemn their attacks becauses this group is not affected by harsh words nor any form of embarrassments anymore. I already ordered the Regional Director (RD) of PRO5, PBGen Jonnel Estomo, to give special attention to Masbate in light of the recent spate of attacke committed by the CPP-NPA-NDF, who is now targeting civilians in Masbate,” said PGen. Eleazar who is currently in Bicol for an official visit.
Part of the Chief PNP’s order is to strengthen the police-community relations in Masbate in order to deny the CPP-NPA-NDF its mass support base and eventually clear the entire province of its influence.
Meanwhile, he said that he had already placed the entire police forces in Eastern Visayas under high alert after a successful military operation that killed at least 19 communist rebels in Eastern Samar.
A separate firefight in Northern Samar also resulted in the death of a policeman and a communist rebel.